Syracuse Basketball: Sweet 16 breakdown Ball Durham (Duke Basketball)

3 of 6

Duke hasn’t lost often this season and this sure appears to be an extremely talented bunch, what’s the blue print to beat Duke? In their losses, what have teams taken advantage of?

"To beat Duke you have to be on your A game. First off, you have to be hitting your shots from beyond the arc. Rhode Island went into the Round of 32 game trying to beat Duke from deep. They couldn’t hit their shots and obviously didn’t come close to Duke. If you’re hitting outside shots, that extends and opens up the zone, which could allow for backdoor cuts and easy looks at the basket. If you look at Duke’s two losses against Carolina, they murdered Duke on the offensive boards that might be the biggest key to beat the Blue Devils. Hit the offensive glass, and hit it hard."

Greg Armstrong (@GregArmstrong_):

"It’s attacking the bigs. Since the full-time switch to the zone, teams have found success attacking from the baseline and hitting guys diving to the basket. Duke also has had a weak spot at the foul line, or the sweet spot of the 2-3 zone. Bagley isn’t a great defender and hasn’t developed the defensive instincts in college yet. You have to attack them from the baseline and create two on ones in the paint."

Home/Syracuse Basketball